NASA landed on the Moon exactly half-a-century ago on Sunday, July 20, 1969. The monumental journey led by astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins inspired entire generations of budding scientists and engineers to come. But in the 50 years since the Moon landing took place the circumstances under which the Apollo programme was made possible have changed drastically. As a result, some believe it is now up to the private sector to take us back to the stars.
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, and Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon and Blue Origin, are two names taken most seriously when discussing the future of manned spaceflight.
Mr Musk, 48, built his multi-billion empire off the back of Paypal, electric motor company Tesla and his California-based rocket company SpaceX.
In 2011, after the end of the Space Shuttle programme, SpaceX was contracted to deliver cargo for NASA to the International Space Station (ISS).
Now, the company is developing manned spacecraft to deliver human astronauts to the ISS under NASA’s Commercial Crew Development initiative.
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Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos will lead the space race back to the Moon and beyond (Image: GETTY)
Elon Musk aims to revolutionise how humans travel to the Moon and Mars (Image: GETTY)
But Mr Bezos, 55, is not too far behind with his eyes firmly set on landing his own spacecraft on the Moon and beyond.
Recently, speaking to CBS, he warned human space travel is an unfortunate necessity due to humans “destroying this planet” – the only home humanity has ever known.
With these bold ambitions in mind, Professor Craig Underwood of the Surrey Space Centre at the University of Surrey told Express.co.uk going back to the Moon and to Mars will be done by private entities.
He said: “In a way, we’ve got that feeling again of a race with China, India, the US and Russia all wanting to go back to the Moon.
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“But I think it’s going to be China and it’s going to be also private enterprise, which will take us forward.
It will be private enterprise to enable NASA to get where they need to go
“So with Elon Musk and SpaceX, and Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin, we’re seeing that kind of hunger for rapid innovation come from private enterprise.
“Perhaps even more so than from the government institutions like NASA, which are nowadays rather more conservative perhaps than private industry.”
SpaceX’s biggest claim to fame is the reusable Falcon 9 booster rocket that is pioneering with each successive launch the future of cheap orbital launches.
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The rocket manufacturer has also demonstrated an ability to send a spacecraft into space, the Crew Dragon, designed for human astronaut crews.
Blue Origin, on the other hand, has unveiled in May this year its plans for sending humans into space in the Blue Lander spacecraft.
And while NASA continues to explore the universe, it will be up to private venture capitalists to truly push the boundaries of what is possible.
Professor Underwood said: “I think President Trump’s instruction to NASA to get to the Moon by 2024 is going to be very difficult for them to achieve.
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Our Moon is the fifth largest Moon in the solar system (Image: GETTY)
Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin is racing SpaceX to the Moon (Image: GETTY)
“I mean their original plan, I think, was for 2028 and looking at the programme right now there’s an awful lot of stuff they need to do before they’re ready.
“But I think Elon Musk may well be ready by that sort of time frame.
“I know he wants to get his Starliner into space by 2023, so I could quite well believe it will be private enterprise to enable NASA to get where they need to go.
NASA wants to put the first woman on the Moon by the end of the decade as part of the Artemis programme.